I'll be right up front and say that I'm an animal mill hater. That said I'll try to stick to what seem to be the facts and then explain why I dislike mills. (1) There are lots of different types and sizes of ferret mills or farms. Marshal Farms is just the biggest and most well known so most people refer to them the way some people call "copying" "xeroxing". There are other large farms in Canada and the U.S. though none probably as big, that sell to retail. There are also small breeders that sell to retail. (2) There really isn't that much known for sure about MF as they are a family owned private business that haven't to my knowledge responded to requests for detailed information other than disclaimers about reported problems with health. I get the impression that employees sign a "gag order" though admittly this is one thing I can't claim for sure. (3) However they do seem to have the pet store market fairly well cornered. Estimates are they breed something like 80,000 ferrets a year and even ship to Japan. (4) They also I believe breed beagles for research labs as well as sell a percent of their ferrets to research labs. (5) My understanding is that several ferret rescue organizations have tried to get MF to hand over some of their breeders who will no longer be used for breeding because of age etc. but to my knowledge this has not happened. (6) They ship kits at about 6 weeks of age although their have been reports here of seeing younger at pet stores. So they spay and neuter when very very young since they are shipped already desexed as well as de scented. There are some things that can be extraploted but aren't facts. If (this is by far from exact) , under artificial lighting you could say get a female ferret to breed 4 litters a year, and each female had say 8 kits live and they produce 80,000 the math comes to......2,500 females plus some males, plus the kits that are around for up to 6 weeks. A pretty big operation. Pretty wearing on the females too. That said I don't like any type of breeder, small, large, dog, cat, bunny, ferret etc. that breeds a COMPANION animal for profit. It is cheaper to raise and breed a new animal than it is to nurse a sick one - all sick breeders are most likely put to sleep. All breeding animals that become non producers - most likely put to sleep. In order to be profitable at the size that MF is I'm quite sure they take pains to keep the animals well fed, water'ed and do their best to keep them disease free. However you can almost guarentee that these companion animals never receive human attention beyond the basics. Cages and bedding kept to a minimum and only of a type that easily cleans - no hammocks that need to be washed. No toys that need to be disinfected. No out of cage time ever. That said I know from personal experience that some smaller breeders that have USDA licenses to sell to retail are far worse. But two wrongs doesn't make one right. Its a warehouse, a factory, they might as well be making toys. When broken or uninterested - take to a shelter, give away, let loose, have put down, leave behind when you move, put in basement and ignore. Most dog breed organizations have a Code of Ethics that breeders are supposed to live by - not selling to retail is usually one rule because you don't have control over the future of the animal you brought into the world. To breed only the best, healtiest animals and sell animals that do not meet that criteria on spay/neuter contracts. To take back what you've bred should the homes have some misfortunate befall them and be unable to keep the animal. To keep that animal till another suitable home can be found. These ethics were developed to help keep breed populations healthy and to keep pet overpopulation from becoming a problem. I concur with these ethics and would only deal with breeders that do - obviously large organizations such as MF do not. They are too large to know whether the pet store they ship to keeps their kits in poor conditions or have any regard to the types of homes they go to. Let me finish by saying that no one has anything against MF ferrets themselves, only the organization that has so little concern for their animals welfare. In terms of producing well tempered ferrets they seem to do well. As an interesting side note - I just happened to experience MF kits yesterday when I had my dog at the vets. I go to a large clinic that the pet store uses to do an initial health screen on their MF kits. I walked in and Lo and Behold - 3 wooden crates sitting on the counter in their shipping crates ready to be examined. Each box was constructed of a plywwood floor with 2 x 4 sides. Hardware screen rounded over the top gave an approximate clearance of 5" to 5.5". Crates were approx 12 x 16 or 18". Each crate held 12 kits. A new shiny small tin can was attached to a corner in each one for water. Wood chips (not cedar) intermixed with MF food was the bedding. They stack on top of each other. A white label was affixed to each one. From memory the paraphrased instructions to airport workers were - "these animals are used to small enclosures and do not require exercise" also "they are used to varying temperatures" "do not remove from enclosures" and "other than long delays in shipping they do not need to be fed or watered, in the event of long delays do not fill water more than 2/3's. Canned cat food can be used to feed" It would be hard to get them out anyway as the hardware screen is tough stuff (this is not like window screen) and nailed to the 2 x 4's. The kits were cute - but then all new toys are. Mary, Booker and the fuzzbutts too "If you don't rescue - don't breed" P.S. for those of you unaware of the puppy/cat mills that exist to breed for retail - do a web search and be prepared for the unimaginable. [Posted in FML issue 2714]